How does the predator/prey (life feeds on life) model allow for a Loving God?

Question

Even if human suffering is blamed on adam/eve, why would a loving god create a world where the very mechanism of survival is massive fear and suffering? Every time I watch insects or other pretty running away in hysterical fear from predators, I ask why????

typo: pretty -> prey

I very much appreciate the well-thought-out christian responses -- no joke. I see the 'fall' as metaphorical and saying the same things that logic tells me as well. Again, thanks.

Answer 1

You are forgetting the fall. In the garden of eden, when Adam and Eve disobeyed God, death entered into the world. Before that, there was no death. Even the ground of the land became cursed because of what they had done. I believe the entire order of the natural world became corrupted because of the corruption of humanity.

Have you ever read the bible? There are parts of it where it talks about the end of time. It says things like "the lion will lie down with the lamb" and that a baby could pet a poisonous asp and not fear getting a bite.

Because, after Jesus returns he's going to make a new earth where there is no more death or pain. Where there is no more fear and suffering.

You see what you observe is not the way the world was supposed to be - humanity is in a state of rebellion against our Creator.

The bible says the earth cries out in birth pains because the earth cannot wait to be restored to the peaceful, radiant creation God intended it to be.

Answer 2

If you read the Bible, you will find several interesting things regarding this subject. God does care very deeply about his entire creation. The Bible states that after God created animals, "God saw that it was good" (Genesis 1:25). In another interesting spot, God tells the prophet Jonah that Nineveh is an important city because it has 120,000 persons and also much cattle! (Jonah 4:11). God considered the saving of cattle from death worthy of mention to Jonah!

But man is the only living thing that is created in God's image, so the Bible definitely does put mankind on a higher plane than the rest of the animal kingdom. Mankind is the only creature that is supposed to reflect the goodness and holiness of God (that is what the term "image of God" means -- Genesis 1:27). So this is part of the answer to your question -- God expected mankind to be the steward of his creation (Genesis 1:28). He expected mankind to eventually gain supremacy over the rest of the creation (Genesis 1:26) -- which, I think you will agree, has occurred. I guess that what I am saying is that the Bible indicates that animals are not quite as important as human beings -- they are not creative, they are not self-aware, they have no concept of their own mortality, and they do not have the emotions that humans have -- the insect has an instinctual fight or flight reflex -- it does not have a nervous system that allows for the emotion of fear.

But God gave mankind free will also (free will is not exhibited in the animal kingdom -- animals react to stimuli purely on the basis of instinct or training). God wanted man to love Him but he gave us the choice not to love him or obey Him. Love for God is rendered meaningless if God had created us like some kind of automatons that automatically obey Him and are forced to always do good. He gave us the ability to choose evil (i.e. not to obey Him). Mankind eventually chose to reject God (i.e. do evil) and the entire creation was set into a fallen state (see Romans 8:18-22).

But the Bible postulates that we are eternal beings (Ecclesiastes 3:11). This life is essentially the forum in which we get to choose good (love God and love other people) or choose evil (love mostly ourselves and reject God). God allows us our choice and he ratifies that choice for eternity. Christianity postulates that there will come a time when God will re-create the universe and the wolf will lie down with the lamb (see Isaiah 11:6-9). This will be the place for those who choose God through Jesus. Those who believe that humans are the greatest intelligence and power in the universe will be put in a place where they can all exercise their "power" over each other (i.e. evil), a place that is separated from God's people.

To further reinforce the idea that mankind is eternal and that this predator/prey world is not all that there is -- see Luke 13:1-5. Jesus is asked about an incident of sensless violence and a different incident of random disaster that kills "innocent" people. Jesus urges us to repent now so that we are ready to face eternity. He indicates that ALL humans are evil (sinners) and must ask for God's forgiveness if they wish to be in God's presence for eternity.

This is the Christian answer. This world is relatively temporary and is a place of suffering and of choice (see Romans 8:18-19). I know that you think that I am a closed-minded Christian, but I think that it is really the Christian-haters who are close minded, because I know that they do not take the time to research the historicity of Christianity and that they know almost nothing about the Bible. I hope that you will be open-minded enough to at least look at a few of these Bible passages.

Answer 3

Good Question! I was troubled by that too. I did my homework using the Bible and this is what I found. In the beginning when God finished creating the earth the bible says at Gen. 1:31 "that he saw that it was very good" Adam and Eve were placed in Paradise...the animals were not something to be feared but subdued. If they were "predators" Adam and Eve would not have been safe. Once sin occured and Adam and Eve were removed from the Garden of Eden and God's blessing was removed. Everything changed. God allowed Satan the opportunity to rule the earth( why Satan was able to offer Jesus all the kingdom's of the earth if he would do one act of worship to him) Although God has demonstrated his ability to control the animals. The example of Noah helps us to appreciate that. The animals like we humans have had to adapt. Not all are predators, yet the ones that are can be very disturbing. Psalms 37:10,11 tells us that the "Meek shall inherit the earth and reside forever upon it" The bible speaks about living on the earth forever over 44 times in paradise conditions. No doubt when God restores the earth to its original purpose the animals will also be restored to their original condition. One for our enjoyment. Animals have a built in mechinisim to reduce fertility when over crowding occurs. Vegetation will be prolific, no longer will there be a curse on the ground. Hope you will be there to see the awesome demonstration of God's power!(Zeph 2:2,3)

Answer 4

As an atheist, the answer to this question is easy. :)

There are many such questions that constitute evidence against the existence of a certain type of god (all-loving and all-powerful). This is not to say that another type of god couldn't exist, but that this particular type (simultaneously all-loving and all-powerful) flatly contradicts all available evidence.

(Oh, and the most common counter to this argument says something like "Evil is caused by man" or "Maybe from God's perspective everything is good". However, the former doesn't account for natural evil, such as natural disasters; and the latter completely undercuts the orginal assertion -- i.e. you can't simultaneous say "God is good" and then when pressed with evidence to the contrary say "Humans are unable to tell good from bad." That's illogical.)

*Edit: I hadn't seen the "animals evolved to survive under us" idea before. It's laughable. Humans were not even around for the vast majority of animal evolution. Are we cherry-picking ideas out of science now?

Answer 5

This was never the purpose of animals to kill one another, the stain of sin has made it impossible for many species of animal to survive without eating another. In the new earth, Isaiah speaks at least two times about predator animals eating grass for food, and that even little children can put their hands over a snakes den and it will not bite.

If you starved a Galah (herbivore) and gave it meat, it will also eat it. People say that many meat eaters were designed to eat meat as for their canine incisor teeth etc, yet Gorillas who are herbivores have some of the biggest teeth in the animal kingdom.

Answer 6

i understand what the fundamentalist answer is: effect of sin. Had sin not entered the international, all animals could be vegetarians, inclusive of people. it is till we detect that plant life sense discomfort whilst killed. The backyard of Eden became harmonious and that they only ate culmination, herbs and vegetables. I agree that that's not an rather passable answer. yet another version is to argue that animals do not probable sense discomfort, e.g. fish. yet it is unconvincing. The organic international bloody with its "teeth and claw" poses a situation not purely for Christians, yet for all religions, different than those which forget approximately in regards to the animal international (e.g Islam). working example, for the Buddhist and Hindu, how do you conquer the wheel of karma is you're born a carnivore or insect whose survival relies upon on inflicting ailment? there is an answer, in spite of the undeniable fact that it quite is very theological and philosophical and might take a super e book to communicate. purely for intense human beings, not YA.

Answer 7

This is where evolution can work in. Before sin, nothing on the earth died. When sin came . . . whew, it threw everything off balance and death ran rampant. Now you may ask why do the animals die if humans sinned? Our sin affected them because we started killing them, for sacrifice, food ,etc. this shaped them to fight and fight other living things. Animals aren't smart enough to reason why not to fight( atleast i don't think), so they evolved in order to survive us. It started with us and moved out.

Answer 8

Life, death, rebirth...it is all explained by the theory of Karma...it cannot be explained by Christianity, and that is why you continue to wonder why. Check out the philosophy of Bhuddism and it will all make sense to you.